The present invention relates to a fuel injector.
German Published Patent Application No. 196 32 196 describes a fuel injector which is designed so as to be very slim in order to extend, for example, at its spray-side valve end, into an induction pipe of an internal combustion engine. The electromagnetically actuatable valve is distinguished by the fact that both a valve seat support as well as a valve needle are configured in an elongated fashion. Therefore, the spray-discharge point of the valve is set far forward, thus making possible a very controlled spray discharge. A connecting part of the valve needle, connecting the armature and the valve-closure member, is designed as a stamping-bending part and, over the greatest part of its axial extension, has an open profile, deviating from a circular cross-section. The valve seat support is designed as a sleeve-like, thin-wall component.
European Published Patent Application No. 0 690 224 describes a fuel injector which has a nozzle opening, which, when the valve is installed, is already situated in the interior of an intake port, so that, while avoiding wetting the wall, a spray discharge is possible that is substantially directed at an intake valve of an internal combustion engine. The forward placement of the spray-discharge point increases the mass and the volume of the injector by elongating the solidly designed valve seat support.
The fuel injector according to the present invention has the advantage that, in comparison to the known elongated valves increased rigidity, is achieved simply and cost-effectively. Twisting or bending the spray-discharge-side valve end is advantageously prevented. The valve end has a high resistance to bending and folding. As a result of the increased strength of the thin-wall connecting part of the fuel injector according to the present invention, the connecting part being used as the valve seat support, it is possible to operate a fuel injector of this type even at system pressures that are higher with respect to the induction pipe injection. The fuel injector according to the present invention is therefore especially suited, as a so-called direct-injection valve, for directly injecting fuel into a combustion chamber of a mixture-compressing, spark-ignited internal combustion engine.
It is particularly advantageous to introduce, over the circumference of the connecting part, a plurality of longitudinal depressions in the form of elongated creases.